Today’s Battle: Who Will Claim the Final Eight?

Today’s matches are all about who will be among the last eight players standing, with five having already booked their spots during play yesterday — each still dreaming of hoisting the inaugural AUSTIN125 trophy.

Yesterday, Texas Aggie Mary Stoiana advanced after Kayla Cross was forced to retire due to an injury. Stoiana is building on her recent W100 final run in Tyler, Texas, under the guidance of Argentinian coach Francisco Vittar. After training last week at the Carlos DiLaura Academy in Austin, she’s aiming to stay in town through the weekend — and possibly leave with the title.

Texas Longhorn Carmen Herea is putting her wildcard to great use, powering into the quarterfinals with a commanding 6–3, 6–2 win. Texas fans are hopeful that Malaika Rapolu, who faces Himeno Sakatsume on Center Court today, will join her to make it two Longhorns among the final eight. It’s a marquee matchup: Rapolu is coming off her highest-ranked win, while Sakatsume has yet to drop a game in Austin.

Elizabeth “Ellie” Mandlik notched a statement victory over No. 6 seed Arantxa Rus, and now turns her attention to doubles, where she’ll team up with Renata Zarazúa.

In the first match of the morning, qualifier Mary Lewis, looks to continue her Austin fairy tale against her toughest opponent yet — Canadian Marina Stakusic — before returning to the court for doubles alongside local favorite Jennifer Jackson, her former singles opponent.

Iva Jovic continues her hunt for more 2025 hardware, gearing up to face Anastasia Gasanova in the third match on Center Court.

In the tournament’s longest match, third seed Renata Zarazúa found herself locked in a grueling battle with qualifier Claire Liu. As the sun began to set — with all matches required to finish before sundown — tension filled the air.

Zarazúa led 5–2 in the deciding set, but Liu clawed her way back, evening the score at 5–5. Zarazúa then fought off a break point to hold serve, only for Liu to storm through the next four points and tie it once again at 6–6. With daylight fading fast, play was ultimately suspended due to darkness. The two will resume their tiebreak — winner take all — at 11 a.m. today on Grandstand.